UN peacekeeping chief pledges support for civilians in Abyei

February 22, 2024 (ABYEI) – The Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix has said the United Nations peacekeepers in Abyei (UNISFA) is committed to protect civilians amid ongoing intercommunal tensions.

Lacroix and the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy to the Horn of Africa, Hanna Tetteh met with representatives of local communities and the civil society Abyei.

“They listened to their concerns and strongly encouraged them to continue working towards reconciliation,” a UN statement noted.

According to UNISFA, nearly 900 displaced men, women and children in Abyei were voluntarily returned to their place of origin in Unity State in South Sudan.

The displaced persons had recently sought refuge in a UN base in Rumajak, about seven kilometres north of Abyei, where they were being protected by peacekeepers after intercommunal violence flared in Abyei early this year.

The South Sudanese authorities helped with that transfer, UNISFA said.

Since the start of the war, nearly 8 million people, half of them children, have reportedly fled Sudan while around 560,000 have taken refuge in South Sudan.

UN estimates show around 1,500 new arrivals turn up in South Sudan on daily basis.

Thousands of civilians were killed in the ongoing war, according to UN figures.

Additionally, some 25 million people, more than half of Sudan’s population, need humanitarian assistance, while an estimated 3.8 million children under the age of five are suffering from malnutrition, according to the world body.

(ST)